


The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by You_Are_Constance



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas Cookies, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Holiday Sweaters, Mistletoe, Multi, White Elephant Gift Exchange, a christmas story references, it won't let me add eponine but she's here too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27712388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Are_Constance/pseuds/You_Are_Constance
Summary: Tis that time of the year, when Les Amis de l'ABC all gather together to celebrate Christmas with their annual Christmas Party!It's Courfeyrac's turn to host, and he's looking forward to making sure that this year's Christmas Party is the best one yet.
Relationships: Bahorel/Feuilly (Les Misérables), Combeferre/Courfeyrac (Les Misérables), Cosette Fauchelevent/Marius Pontmercy, Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables), Joly/Bossuet Laigle/Musichetta, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8
Collections: Les Mis Holiday Exchange (2020)





	The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hi0ctane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hi0ctane/gifts).



> heyo! this is my first time participating in an event like this and I'm so excited! I hope y'all like it!

Courfeyrac had taken the day off of work to set up for the annual Les Amis Christmas Party tonight. This year, it was happening in his and Marius’s apartment. Marius had promised to be home earlier, by 4, to help finish with the last few things before the others arrived.

The party was scheduled to start at 5:30, and there was no possible way to tell just how long it would go. 2 years ago, it had lasted only until midnight, but last year, no one had gone home and it never really ended, so tonight was anyone’s guess.

As Courfeyrac glanced over the main area of his apartment, he became immensely glad that he had the whole day to get ready, since there was certainly a long way to go.

They’d been decorated for Christmas since the moment Marius finally let Courfeyrac do so, aka, Thanksgiving night, but that didn’t mean they were decorated and ready for the party.

There was a long way to go before they’d be at that level, so Courfeyrac got started. He cleared the books and papers from off the coffee table, then moved the actual table against the wall. Presents for the annual White Elephant Gift Exchange would be stacked there when people started arriving.

Courfeyrac then started cooking his assigned part of dinner. He'd been assigned the main dish, everyone else was supposed to bring a side or dessert.

While the food was cooking, Courfeyrac took to putting up mistletoe all over the apartment. It had become a tradition over the years to see who got caught. It was a competition, in a way, for whoever put it up. The only rule was that you couldn't put it over the front doorway. 

Last year, Musichetta had managed to catch not only Joly and Grantaire, but Feuilly and Bahorel as well, which had led to them starting dating, so Musichetta was by far winning.

Needless to say, Courfeyrac wanted to win. He wanted to catch the big prize because if he could do that, he'd be unbeatable.

Courfeyrac had nearly finished setting things up when Marius came home. Courfeyrac tasked him with clearing and wiping off the table--which would only be used to serve the food because no one in their friend group was capable of sitting down at a table and eating.

The first person arrived around 5:20. Cosette was the first to arrive, which was not a surprise. She was usually one of the early arrivals.

She was also the one usually tasked with bringing drinks, and since 3 years ago, they'd ended up being non-alcoholic, since they had to ban it because of a single game of Monopoly.

That was an... interesting year.

Cosette places the drinks and cups on the table, then gave Marius a kiss on the cheek, which caused him to flush scarlet. Courfeyrac couldn't help laughing at his roommate. 

Before the others could arrive, Courfeyrac went back into his room to change into his party outfit, which consisted of a regular white button-up shirt beneath whatever Christmas sweater he deemed best, and usually a matching bow-tie. 

This year, the sweater was Stranger Things themed, because that was the show he'd become obsessed with in the past year. He'd only bought the sweater a week or two ago, but it was already his favorite. 

When he came back out, a few others had arrived, not many yet. Their group wasn't exactly an 'early arrival' group.

Then Courfeyrac resumed his place by the door to welcome everyone else as they arrived.

Combeferre had somehow managed to arrive exactly at 5:30, which he'd somehow done every year for the past 5 years. The year before was when he hosted it, so he couldn't exactly 'arrive' if he was already there.

"Right on time, as usual," Courfeyrac smirked. as Combeferre came inside. "How do you do it?"

Combeferre shrugged. "Talent, I guess." He smiled, and Courfeyrac's heart faltered, but he forced himself to stop.

Now was not the time to be pining over his best friend.

Jehan came in not long after, with a sweater that could contest Courfeyrac's own, carrying a plate of gingerbread cookies.

Since the beginning, Jehan had been bringing gingerbread people to every party. No one else dared try, because there was no way they'd ever be able to compete with Jehan's cookie decorating skills. Usually, the cookies were see themed in some sort of way. Last year it was The Christmas Carol, this year, it seemed to be their own friend group.

"It's an odd sort of poetry," Jehan explained, the usual air of mystery in their voice.

"Jehan," Courfeyrac began, "that is incredibly morbid, and I am absolutely here for it."

Within a moment, Courfeyrac felt a weight on his back and nearly fell over, barely managing to balance himself in time before he and Gavroche—who Courfeyrac knew it was—fell.

“Hey kid,” Courfeyrac said as Gavroche’s arms wrapped around his neck. “I see ‘Ponine’s finally let you come.”

“Until eleven,” the very person replied as she passed. “And he’d better behave himself.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, won’t you, Gav?” Courfeyrac tried to turn his head enough to see Gavroche, still on his back, but ultimately failed.

“You won’t even know I’m here,” he said, sliding off Courfeyrac’s back and running off.

Courfeyrac and Eponine made eye contact for a moment, both knowing exactly that what Gavroche had said was a blatant lie, but they let it be.

Not 2 minutes later, there was a ruckus coming from down the hall. Courfeyrac went to investigate and saw Bahorel and Bossuet caught under the mistletoe, Gavroche standing proudly beside them. As the only minor, he was exempt from the mistletoe, but obviously very excited to catch as many people as possible.

This was going to be a great year.

Most of the food disappeared rather quickly, and soon it was time for the white elephant gift exchange.

To explain the game to a newcomer would be incredibly difficult and time-consuming, as it changed every year. The rules were inconsistent, and sometimes even Courfeyrac had a hard time keeping up.

This year--though Courfeyrac wasn't quite sure of how--he ended up with what appeared to be a homemade version of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story. It was quite possibly the best thing he'd ever seen.

Everyone certainly got a kick out of it--pun intended--and soon it was revealed that it was Feuilly who had brought it. Oddly enough, he'd only seen the actual movie once, and it was at last year's Christmas party. Long story short, they had found out that Feuilly had never seen it before, and the entire party stopped just to watch it.

Feuilly insisted that the context of the gift was even better than the gift itself, so he started to explain it.

"Back in August, a couple of volunteers brought in this big--possibly life-size--Moana pinata for the kids," he began. "It was thrown out back when the kids finished with it, but I managed to rescue the leg to turn it into this."

"You've been planning this since August?" Grantaire asked in disbelief.

"Well, we all know Courf's been planning since last Christmas," Feuilly pointed out. 

Courfeyrac shrugged. It was accurate. 

His gift, which he had found on clearance last January, was an ornament of Santa combined with a centaur. A 'Santaur,' if you will. It had ended up with Joly, but Bossuet had gotten a hold of it and was now holding it up in the air like Simba in the scene from The Lion King. 

The gift exchange ended, and people went to snacking on the little food that remained as they brought out the games. Monopoly had was banned, because of that one disaster year that had also caused alcohol to be banned. Thinking back on that game still made Courfeyrac shudder.

Eventually, Eponine declared it was time for her and Gavroche to leave. Of course, the kid protested and fought against it, even hiding in Courfeyrac's room for a little while before Eponine managed to catch him by the collar and practically drag him out.

The party still continued for a long time after that, with more games and snacking, and a few more unsuspecting people getting caught under the mistletoe—not as many now that Gavroche was no longer there to push people under.

A long time later, sometime after midnight, Courfeyrac noticed Grantaire slip out onto the balcony as the festivities were beginning to slow down.

He caught Enjolras’s arm as he passed by. 

“Here’s your chance,” Courfeyrac whispered. “R’s out there, alone.” He motioned to the door that led out to the balcony.

Enjolras’s eyes widened and face paled. “What do I do?”

“Just talk to him,” Courfeyrac urged. “Trust me.”

Enjolras nodded slowly, his gaze going to the door. Courfeyrac let go of his arm and watched his go out there before returning back to the main room, where some were beginning to clean up, which Courfeyrac greatly appreciated since he’d be the one tasked with the job otherwise.

A little while later, Courfeyrac glanced out the window to see Enjolras’s golden curls shining under the dim glow of the balcony’s light. Courfeyrac smiled at his choice of mistletoe placement as he closed the blinds of the windows to give them privacy. He’d rub his victory in all their faces later.

Others started to leave, a few at a time, Courfeyrac wishing them all a “Merry Christmas” as they left.

When most everyone had left—Enjolras and Grantaire still out on the balcony and a few stragglers still remaining—Courfeyrac started to clean the dishes, knowing they’d be terrible to clean if he waited for much longer.

He was mostly finished when he heard someone clear their throat from behind him.

“So, uh, I guess it’s just us now.” Combeferre began, Courfeyrac turning around to face him.

“Oh, did everyone else leave?” Combeferre nodded. “Even Enjolras and Grantaire?”

“Just barely. Good job on that, by the way.”

“I do my best.”

Combeferre’s eyes seemed to flicker around nervously. “Is-is there anything I can do to help?”

“I think I’m just about done. Everyone was a big help.” He noticed another stack of plates on the counter near where Combeferre stood. “Actually, could you bring me there?” He motioned to the plates, Combeferre immediately bringing them over.

“Thanks,” Courfeyrac said, taking them and pretending not to notice how hard his heart was pounding. He turned back around and started washing them, still very aware of the fact that Combeferre was directly behind him. He intentionally took a long time washing those last few dishes to avoid turning around, because he had no idea what might happen if he turned around. He didn’t know what he might do if he turned around.

But he’d taken so long already. By now, he hat to turn around or Combeferre would get suspicious. 

So he took a deep breath and did so.

“Merry Christmas. I don’t know if I’ve said that to you yet,” he realized. “You should probably be getting home. It’s pretty late, or early.” He desperately wanted Combeferre to stay, but he felt weird asking. Everything was so confusing.

“You’re right,” Combeferre agreed. “Thanks for hosting.”

Courfeyrac shrugged. “No problem. It was my turn anyway.”

“It was a really good party.”

“It was just the same things we do every year, ‘Ferre,” Courfeyrac laughed, slightly unsure and afraid of where this was going.

“But something about this year was just… even better, and… and I think that something was because of you.”

Courfeyrac stepped back in surprise, running into the counter. “What do you mean?”

“You have this… this glow, Courf, a glow that just makes people happier. It’s always been there, but it seemed to be even brighter this year because you put so much of yourself into making sure everything was perfect. I can’t quite explain, but it’s there, and people can’t help noticing. I just can’t help noticing.”

Courfeyrac could feel his eyes watering. Hearing these things, and hearing them from Combeferre, it felt greater than Courfeyrac could describe.

“I think I’ll be leaving now,” said Combeferre, beginning to walk out. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Courfeyrac mumbled, unable to say anything else for a moment, then suddenly realizing something. “Wait, don’t go that way!” He ran to stop Combeferre, but it was too late. Now they were both caught.

Combeferre glanced up and smiled. “I never would have thought.” He looked back down at Courfeyrac, who was mere moments from short-circuiting, and said, “I guess there’s no way around it. May I?”

Courfeyrac—unable to form words at the moment—managed a nod, then Combeferre leaned down, Courfeyrac tilting his head up and closing his eyes as the space between them narrowed.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's a wrap!
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this. I think this is the first thing for Les Mis that I've written in a while, and also the first Christmas-themed thing I've written! I hope you all like it!
> 
> A couple of fun facts: most everything about the White-Elephant Gift Exchange was a true story. Even the Moana pinata. So the full story of that is that my cousins bought a life-size Moana Pinata from our family reunion and brought it back to our house. We broke it open and whatever, but the funny thing was that there was no room in the pinata itself for candy, so we used a candy cannon (which ended up denting the house but that's a different story) so that happened one fall. Like a year later, I found the leg in my closet. I had apparently kept it. My parents took it and turned it into the leg-lamp and took it to their Christmas party for the White-Elephant Gift Exchange. We have also received a Santaur from it.  
> Also, yes, Courf's sweater is, in fact, the Stranger Things one that Fra Fee has worn. I am that predictable  
> And I've never actually seen A Christmas Story all the way through. I've seen snippets, usually the same parts every year, but I've seen it all.
> 
> (if you guys could please not swear or anything in the comments that would be really great!)


End file.
